This invention relates to the field of protective cups to protect the frontal pelvic region of men and boys while engaged in athletic activities and supporting devices to hold them in place.
Prior art supporting devices to hold such protective cups in place include athletic supporters or jock straps. These have an elastic waistband which provides only one body gripping aperture to hold the supporter and relatively heavier protective cup in place. For small boys in particular, whose waist and pelvic-hip region are very small, a single body gripping aperture is not enough to hold a supporting device plus protective cup in place. For others, including men who are extremely large around the waist, it is uncomfortable to have a single tight fitting body aperture around the waist. A supporting device which has more than one body gripping aperture does not have to fit as tightly around the waist in order to have the same ability to hold a protective cup in place. One which has three such body gripping apertures does not have to fit as tightly as one which only has two. The one in accordance with the present invention has three.
Examples of prior art devices to support protective cups for the pelvic region include those described in the following United States patents.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,453,541 discloses an athletic supporter having a waistband and a pair of leg straps attached at one end to the waistband and at their opposite ends to an elastic mesh protective enclosure positioned to protect the pelvic or groin region when worn. A pouch is stitched or sewn on the outside of the elastic mesh protective portion in which a protective cup can be inserted. The pouch has to be on the outside of the supporter as part of the inventive feature of this device, since the open upper edge of the pouch is held closed to keep the protective cup in place by the stretching which takes place when the supporter is put on. In other words, it doesn't need any fastening means by placing the pouch on the outside combined with the other structural features of that particular kind of prior art supporter.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,141,357 discloses a spherical pouch which is itself for the purpose of holding the male vital parts as stated in the abstract and particularly in claim 2 of that patent. The pouch is fastened to a garment by buckles, so it can be removed and used with different garments. The garments for which this removable pouch is designed are said to be one or more of the following: (1) an elastic band encircling the top edge, (2) a cord passing through a rolled over top seam encircling the top of the garment with the ends of the cord tied together, or (3) a belt encircling the top of the garment held in place with belt loops.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,128,902 discloses a pair of pants for gymnasts, and particularly for women gymnasts, having a pouch on the inside front for receiving two layers of foam of different density to protect the thigh, hip and pelvic area against injury while "wrapping" on uneven parallel bars. The pants in this case are shown and described as having an elastic waistband, but there is no disclosure of such for the leg apertures.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,014,044 discloses a protective device to protect the entire groin, pelvic and lumbar region of a male athlete for use particularly when engaging in the martial arts wherein blows to the pelvic-groin-lumbar region can come from below and from the back as well as from the front. The entire protective device of relatively rigid PVC material extends from the front, under and between the legs of the user, and up the back lumbar region of the user. A special pair of trunks are needed to use this protective device and hold it in place, made entirely of elastomeric material having specially constructed pockets in the front and back of the garment. The garment is open between the legs, the crotch portion being removed to provide an open relief to accomodate a full range of unrestrained leg motions. A special shield of fabric material is provided above the crotch and spanning the relief portion, which goes between the facing portion of the wearer's body and the protective bar extending between his legs.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,909,847 discloses a female pelvis and crotch protector in which pockets are provided in a cloth girdle or panty to receive protective pads for the front, crotch, rear and hip regions of the women's body. There is no indication that the weight of the spongy type pads are such that any more holding support is needed than that provided by the elastic waist band. In fact, the patent itself discloses that other means for holding the crotch pad in place are elastic or harness similar to those commonly used for supporting male crotch protectors or suspensories. Those of course are already known to the prior art as the patent indicates.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,782,375 discloses an athletic protector which utilizes a prior art type athletic supporter to which Velcro strips have been added on the outside front to grip corresponding Velcro strips added to the outer surface of a protective cup, to hold it in place that way on the outside front of the athletic supporter.